Advance’s household incomes are lower than in 75% of U.S. towns
2% of workers work from home (Missouri 13%). Below the poverty line: 14.0% of residents (Missouri 12.6%). Jobs and income earn Advance C−; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Advance stands out on work
Advance’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Advance is Cape Girardeau, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (66) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Advance workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 24 across Missouri. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Advance workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 505 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Advance gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Advance is better than 16% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Advance’s grade.
Unemployment (0.7%) is left out: Advance’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Advance could be anywhere from D to C.
Short hops and long hauls from Advance
About 22% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 33 minutes each way, longer than most of Missouri
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Advance workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 714 commuters (the 2% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How many people are in Advance by day
On a workday 460 residents head out to work, 45 work right here, and 322 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Advance on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.73 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
13% of working residents work in Cape Girardeau
Where Advance clocks in
13% of workers
8% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Advance is a services town
367 jobs are based in Advance.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Advance, 2013 → 2023: 287 → 367. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Advance’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Advance, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Advance is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.2% across Missouri.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 728 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.6% of Advance households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Advance’s commuters take a bus or train.
Advance is 3,959th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Loch Lloyd MO | 1,090 | $184K | 2.5% | 0.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | LaBarque Creek MO | 1,457 | $133K | 1.1% | 1.7% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Fremont Hills MO | 1,098 | $171K | 3.9% | 1.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,957 | Wolcottville IN | 1,052 | $54K | 17.4% | 6.5% | 2% | C− |
| 3,958 | Coldwater MS | 1,326 | $44K | 33.7% | 5.3% | 2% | C− |
| 3,959 | Advance MO | 1,323 | $60K | 14.0% | 0.7% | 9% | C− |
| 3,960 | Yachats OR | 1,013 | $67K | 12.4% | 7.2% | 20% | C− |
| 3,961 | Tyndall SD | 1,117 | $50K | 8.5% | 3.1% | 20% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Advance, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Advance: questions
What is the median household income in Advance?
$59,688 (±$10,661) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Advance?
14.0%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Advance?
33 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Advance work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cape Girardeau (13%, 24 mi), Pike Township (8%, 6 mi), Sikeston (8%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Advance walkable?
Advance is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Advance without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Advance, from the people who make the trip.
More of Advance
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.